New Zealand’s stock market continued its recovery from the sharp selloff earlier this week, joining Australia higher as investors digested the latest earnings from chipmaker giant Nvidia.
The S&P/NZX 50 index rose for a second day, up 88.41 points, or 0.7%, at 12,540.87. Across the main board, turnover was $201.7 million.
The local market’s moves earlier this week were exaggerated by the $1 billion capital raising by Ryman Healthcare, which prompted investors to sell other stocks in order to participate. Ryman was unchanged at $3.06 today, with 2.3 million shares changing hands.
“It looks much worse than what it was when a company wants to raise $1 billion,” said Mark Lister, investment director at Craigs Investment Partners. “The market will find its feet and recover as people digest that raising – there’s no shortage of cash out there on the sidelines.”
The antipodean markets were among the strongest across Asia, with the S&P/ASX 200 index up 0.2% in late trading with strong earnings from Qantas Airways, Coles Group. US S&P 500 futures were up 0.2% after chipmaker Nvidia beat earnings expectations, but Asian markets were soggy with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng falling 1.1% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index declining 0.1%.
Spark New Zealand was the most heavily traded stock on a volume of 4.9 million shares, as it bounced back from the savage selloff after its fourth earnings downgrade. The company gained 0.7% to $2.27.
Lister said Spark has been an appalling performer and has been very disrespectful to its shareholders.
“They should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “When you get a business doing this bad and making really poor decisions, at the very least you want management and the CEO to front up and defend them.”
Busy business
Domestically, retailers and other companies linked to household spending were broadly stronger after the latest ANZ business outlook showed firms were upbeat about the outlook for the economy, if not their own activity.
KMD Holdings rose 3.9% to 40.5 cents, while Turners Automotive Group gained 2.8% to $5.90, SkyCity Entertainment Group advanced 2.3% to $1.34 and Warehouse Group increased 1.1% to 96 cents. Hallenstein Glasson Holdings slipped 0.6% to $8.15.
Westpac NZ senior economist Michael Gordon said businesses remain optimistic lower interest rates will help revive the economy.
“We generally share that view, though we’re forecasting a return to moderate rather than above-trend growth over 2025,” he said in a note.
The kiwi dollar 56.83 US cents at 5pm in Auckland from 57.04 cents at 7am and 57.12 cents yesterday.
Craigs’ Lister said the ANZ survey was a better gauge of business confidence than the outlook statements in the recent reporting season, with senior leadership teams more aware of missing investors’ expectations if they were too upbeat.
Tourism Holdings led the NZX50 higher, up 4.6% at $1.82, with Australia’s national carrier Qantas resuming dividend payments after a bumper profit, and as Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers cleared Qatar Airways to buy 25% of Virgin Australia.
Air New Zealand advanced 2.5% to 61.5 cents and Auckland International Airport increased 1% to $8.08.
Infratil gained 3.6% to $10.88 after Nvidia’s earnings quelled growing fears about the size and pace of investment into artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Precinct Properties NZ posted the biggest decline on the benchmark index, falling 1.7% to $1.15.
Powering down
Meridian Energy declined 1.1% to $5.72. The country’s biggest electricity generator reported a first-half loss yesterday on expensive hedging contracts through last year’s winter energy squeeze, and today the Electricity Authority proposed non-discrimination obligations for the electricity retailer-generators.
Mercury NZ decreased 0.6% to $6.015 and Genesis Energy slipped 0.7% to $2.205, while Contact Energy increased 0.2% to $9.01.
Channel Infrastructure declined 1% to $1.94 after reporting a 9% increase in annual earnings and declaring a final dividend of 6.6 cents per share, in line with expectations.
Heartland Group Holdings fell 2.2% to 88 cents after reporting a 90% in first-half profit as it booked more charges on bad debts.
Outside the benchmark index, kiwifruit grower Seeka jumped 7.4% to $3.50 after returning to profitability. Yesterday its board declared a dividend of 5 cents per share.
TruScreen climbed 9.7%, or 0.3 cents, to 3.4 cents after signing a memorandum of understanding with Chinese manufacturer Dalton Bioscience to work together on distributing HPV related products.
On the USX, 800,000 Syft Tech shares changed hands at 5 cents, and the spectrometry specialist has another 2 million bid at 2 cents logged in the system although the lowest asking price from sellers is 19 cents.
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Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Curious News.
